Bastardo Grapes, Old Vines Spice Sonoma Wine: Elin McCoy

Morgan Twain-Peterson, winemaker at Bedrock Wine Company, in the historic Bedrock vineyard in Glen Ellen. Many vines at Bedrock date to 1888, when Senator George Hearst, father of newspaperman William Randolph Hearst, planted a couple of dozen varieties. Photographer: Elin McCoy/Bloomberg

“Old vine field blends are the only California wines that
aren’t ersatz,” says the 32-year-old. “They’re unique. What’s
magical is the sum of the parts.”

His dozen or so red and white cuvees from historic
vineyards are among the state’s most fascinating wines, high on
bold personality, with warmth, intensity, perfumed aromas and
layers of flavor. Tasting them, I’m drinking California wine
history.

While Sonoma has the largest concentration of old vineyards
in the state, they’re in danger of disappearing.

Twain-Peterson is one of the people on a mission to save
them.

In old tan shorts, grey shirt, and a three-day beard, he
tours me around this vineyard he owns with his family, filling
me in on its backstory. The founders, in 1854, were “Fightin’
Joe” Hooker and two-time shipwreck survivor and banker William
“Tecumseh” Sherman, who later became famous Civil War
generals.

Hearst’s Cash

After root-louse phylloxera wiped out the vines in the
1880s, mining magnate Senator George Hearst, father of
newspaperman William Randolph Hearst, splashed out part of his
fortune from the Comstock Lode on the property. He replanted in
1888 and the vines are still going strong.

Back in the day, every grower’s vineyard mix was different.
Harvested together, diverse red grapes were sold under the
catchall phrase, “mixed blacks.”

He makes this last wine with his dad, pioneer zinfandel
producer Joel Peterson, who founded Ravenswood Winery in 1976
and was one of the first to make old vine zin.

As we head up Highway 12 in Twain-Peterson’s messy truck to
see other famous old vines, he tells me how he rode along when
his father scouted vineyards, picked grapes at age three and
made his first wine, “Vina Bambino” pinot noir, at five.

After studying at Vassar and Columbia, he ditched his plan
to become a history professor, founding his tiny Bedrock Wine
Company in 2007.

Deep Roots

The appeal of old vines, roughly defined as 50 or more
years old, isn’t just history. The vines’ deep roots withstand
droughts, grapes ripen more evenly and the juice has more
intense, concentrated, complex flavors -- all of which explains
why so many of the world’s top winemakers in Australia, Chile,
France and elsewhere suffer from old-vine adoration.

Being Joel Peterson’s son got Twain-Peterson in the door
when it came to cajoling grapes from owners of historic
vineyards. He was also a beneficiary of the economic downturn.
Mid-size wineries were already hurting in 2007 and dropping
contracts. He snapped up whatever grapes he could get, from
famous spots like Pagani Ranch.

For growers the downside to old vineyards is economics.
Twain-Peterson calls them “victims of pinot madness,”
recounting how the Silverado Group bought Barbieri vineyard in
2007 and pulled out its hundred year old vines to plant more
lucrative and fashionable pinot noir.

Historic Vineyards

In 2010, hoping to stem this tide, Mike Officer of Carlisle
Winery, who’d bought fruit from Barbieri, joined with Twain-Peterson, and other producers to found the non-profit Historic
Vineyard Society. Their goal: to register (and verify) all
California’s vineyards planted before 1960. So far the inventory
lists 219.

In July, Burgundy’s grand Cote d’Or vineyards may be added
to Unesco’s World Heritage sites. When will California recognize
its own legendary old vines carry the state’s viticultural
history and bestow historical landmark status on them?

Next week, the Rare Wine Co. will offer some hard-to-get
old vine bottlings, with profits going to the Historic Vineyard
Society.

Most of these thrilling, unique wines, like Bedrock’s, can
be had for under $50.

(Elin McCoy writes about wine and spirits for Muse, the
arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. The opinions
expressed are her own.)

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